Device for bending pipe or the like



March 6, 1928.

J. H. CAREY DEVICE FOR BENDING PIPE OR THE LIKE Filed June 1, 1927 1 Fj lI Patented Mar. 6, 1928.

1,661,919 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. CAREY, or PORTLAND, OREGON.

DEVICE FOR BENDIN G PIPE OR THE LIKE.

Application filed June 1,

combination with said rail an eiiicient bending device.

l'l'eretofore, the bending of such objects as aforesaid in field, has been effected by manual pressure applied to obtain leverage upon the object inserted under a rail and over a tie, but that method, particularly in respect to the bending of conduit pipes used for block system wiring, is more or less a makeshift and frequently results in the flattening or cracking of said pipes with consequent serious loss of pipes. Machinery available for doing such work has been tooheavy and cumbersome for use in the field Where installation and bending must be done. i

What constitutes my invention will be hereinafter specified in detail and succinctly defined in the appended claims.

in the accompanying drawing,

Figure I is a top plan view of my bending men'iber operatively attached to a rail, and showing i. pipe, as in process of bending, inserted between the said member and a rail.

Figure 11 is a side elevation of the subject matter of Figure I.

Figure 111 is an end view of my device taken from the inside of the rail.

Referring to the numerals on the drawing, 1 indicates that portion of my device which I term a fulcrum piece, and which may be made of any suitable material. A length of strap steel, shaped to form in addition to the fulcrum an inclined brace 2 and to form feet 3 and 4.- on the extremities thereof, respectively, is an example of a structure Well ada gited for the purpose intended. Said feet preferably extend away from a transversely curved working face 5 with which the ful crum piece is preferably provided.

The feet 3 and i are provided, respectively, with bolt holes 7, suitable for the reception of bolts 8 by which the fulcrum piece may be secured, by nuts 9 threaded to the respective bolts, to a suitable base plate 10.

t is practicable to constitute a serviceable bending device out of two oppositely dis? aforesaid base 1927. Serial No. 195,787.

posed fulcrum pieces, as above described, by fixedly mounting them on any suitable work table, so that they shall present their re spective working faces in practicably close juxtaposition, and therefore the fulcrum piece in itself has a value. But it is for use in the field that my device possesses greatest utility, and for such use, I employ only a single fulcrum fixed to a base plate 10 that is provided with means for operatively securing it to a. rail section while it is installed in place on a railroad track.

A suitable contrivance for securing the plate 10 to a rail is shown in Figures I and 11 in which a returned lip or jaw 11 on one extremity of the said base plate, is designed and adapted to overlap the outer edge of the base 12 of a railroad rail 141 to which the connection, by means of the lip 11, may be, if desired, rendered more positive by aid of a set screw 15 threaded into an aperture provided for it in the lip.

The combination of elements above described exemplifies the more essential elements of my invention in present preferred form of embodiment. In addition to the elements just referred to as more essential, it is necessary to provide means of suitable anchorage in place of the free end of the base plate. Preferred means of anchorage are described in the next paragraph below.

To the base plate 10, near its free end and substantially at right angles tov it, a cross plate 16 is secured, as by rivets 17, for example. 'The cross plate 16 may be made of strap steel, for example, and is designed to bridge the space between adjacent railroad ties 18 upon which, in use, it is intended to rest. Attached to the lower side of the cross lplate 16, as by'rivets 19, is a spacer .20 made preferably of metal of inverse U-shape in of feet, and terminating in legs 21, that are spaced apart so as to substantially fill the space between adjacent ties 18 laid in place in a railroad track. By use of such means of anchorage, when my device is assembled with a rail for use in the bending of pipe or the like, any lateral stress resulting from bending a pipe, for example, across the fulcrum piece 1, is resisted by the legs 21 which are in use braced against the resistance of the railroad track construction through contact between one of the legs 21 and the tie 18 against which the said lateral stress drives it.

For the purpose of making my device applicable for use with ails of different sizes,

provision of means is made for adjusting the fulcrum piece 1 to any desired position along the length of the base plate 10. Means for eliectingg; such adjustment may consist simply of oblonp slots 23 disposed longitudinally in the base plate lt) for the reception, respwxtivcly, of the bolts 8.

Complementary transverse corrugations 21 and 25 on the opposing faces of the feet 2-3 and t and the base plate 10, respectively, may be employed for fixing, by aid of said bolts and their nuts 9, the fulcrum piece, in any desired position on the base plate to which the fulcrum may be adjusted.

Another means for adjustment may be provided, if required, namely, a saddle block 526, which may be made of steel or other suitable metal. The saddle block may be shaped in cross section to conform substantially with the face .5 of the fulcrum piece. 11 threaded stud 28 on the back of the block 26 is adapted to be inserted through an aperture provided in the fulcrum piece and to be fixed in place by a nut 30 threaded thereto. Saddle blocks of different thicknesses may be used interchangeably in order to vary, as occasion may demand, the space between a rail 14 and the working face of the fulcrum piece 1.

The operation of my device in the field may, in view of the foregoing, be briefly described as follows. As often as occasion requires, insertion of the base plate 10 beneath a railfle at any point is made and the cross plate 16 is fixed in place between ties 18. Adjustment of the jaw 11 on the base 12 of said rail having been effected, the jaw and the base may be more positively united by tigl itening the set screw 15. In positioning the device in the manner just described, the cross plate 16 is made to rest on the tops of two adjacent ties 18, so as to hold the plates .10 and 16 in horizontal plane, while the spaced legs 21 dependent from the cross plate 16 are set between the said tics in position to offer resistance against any lateral strain which the bending operation next. described entails.

The device being new in fixed operatiwa relationship to the rail 14, an object to be bent, for example, a length of pipe 31, having been inserted endwise into the space be tween the fulcrum piece and web of the rail 11-, may then be bent to any degree desired about the face 5 of the fulcrum piece.

if necessary to vary the space between the said face and the rail, for the acconnnodation say of a larger pipe, the nuts .1 on the bolts 8 are loosened, and the fulcrum piece may then be adjusted as desired, and afterwards secured in place by tightening of the nuts 9. If the space between the rail and the fulcrum piece is too great, an intermediate saddle block of required thickness may be readily attached to the fulcrum in order to take up part of the space.

\Yhat I claim is:

1. In a bending device of the kind described, the combination with a fulcrum piece, of a base plate adjust-ably connected thereto, and means on said base plate for detachably fastening it to a railroad rail when in place in a track.

2. In a bending device of the kind de scribed, the combination with a fulcrum piece, of a base plate united thereto, means at one end of said base plate for fixedly clamping it to a railroad rail, and means disposed towards the opposite end of said base plate adapted, in use, to cooperate between adjacent railroad ties for holding the fulcrum piece and the rail in operative relationship.

3. In a bending device of the kind described, the :ombination with a fulcrum piece and its base plate, of m ans on the base plate for securing one end thereof to a railroad rail in place in a track, a cross piece upon the other extremity of said base plate adapted to span adjacent ties to which the said rail. is attached and dependant means on said cross piece for effectively resisting displacement: of the base plate under application of lateral pressure applied to an article introduced between said fulcrum piece and rail.

4-. In a bending device of the kind described, the combination with a base plate, and means for detachably fixing it to the base of av railroad rail in place in a track. of a fulcrum piece adjustably fixed to said plate. and a saddle block for the purpose specified detachably fixed to the face of the fulcrum piece.

In testimony whereof, I hare hereunto set my hand.

i JOHN H. CAREY. 

